Stewart drops 18 as Dragons sweep Bulldogs

Pickens, County Ga — After picking up a big win last Thursday against the Southeast Whitfield Raiders, the Pickens Dragons welcomed another region foe to the Dragons Den in the form of the Cedartown Bulldogs. In their previous meeting on January 8th, the Dragons took home a 54-41 win. Coming into the game, the Bulldogs held the 2nd spot in the 7-AAAA standings at 8-2, while Pickens came in as the 3rd place team at 6-4. Aided by a breakout game from Sophomore Jaden Stewart, the Dragons came away with a 49-40 win.

 

The two sides traded buckets to begin the ball game as Cedartown took an early 4-2 lead. Noah Sutton & Tucker Lowe hit back to back three pointers for the Dragons, to put them up 8-4. After a bucket by the Bulldogs, Pickens went on an 8-0 run to stretch the lead out to 16-6. 6 of those points came from two three pointers from Stewart. After a quick 4-0 run by Cedartown, the Dragons countered with a 5-0 run to end the quarter as Ean Goodwin got a tip in bucket and Stewart hit his third three of the quarter. Going to the second, Pickens led the Bulldogs, 21-10.

To start the second quarter, the Bulldogs went on an 8-0 run to cut the Dragons lead down to 21-18. Stewart and Luke Rogers hit back to back buckets for Pickens to increase the lead to 25-18. After a bucket by Cedartown and the two teams hitting a free throw each, Stewart nailed his fourth three pointer of the first half. The Bulldogs got a late bucket just before the end of the first half as the Dragons took a 29-23 lead into the break.

 

 

 

 

 

After Cedartown hit a bucket to start the third quarter making it a four point game, Stewart kept his hot shooting going by hitting his fifth three pointer of the night. After the two teams traded free throws, the Bulldogs connected on a bucket to male it 33-29 Dragons. Pickens countered with a 6-0 run getting buckets from Owen Moss, Goodwin, and Stewart to make it 38-29. After a bucket, a free throw, and two technical free throws, all from Lowe, the Dragons took a 44-32 lead into the fourth.

In the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs would outscore Pickens 8-5, but the Dragons were able to hold on and pick up a big region win, 49-40. With the win, the Dragons sweep the season series from Cedartown and stay in third place in the region standings by themselves.

 

7-AAAA Boys Basketball Standings:

Heritage: 14-6 (9-2)

Cedartown: 9-9 (8-3)

Pickens: 10-11 (7-4)

Central-Carroll: 15-8 (6-4)

Northwest Whitfield: 11-7 (5-5)

Ridgeland: 5-13 (1-9)

Southeast Whitfield: 4-17 (1:10)

 

On Thursday, the Dragons will be on the road as they head to Rome to take on the Unity Christian Lions in non-region action. Unity Christian, is out of the GAPPS 1-A North region. They are 11-9 overall and 6-1 in their conference. Tip off is set for 6:30 pm.